Michelle Shocked presents “Musical Chairs: A Survivor’s C.A.S.E. for Artists’ Rights Now!”
MICHELLE SHOCKED KEYNOTE
“Musical Chairs: A Survivor’s C.A.S.E. for Artists’ Rights Now!”
SAT NOV 16
Thompson Hotel – Front Room
(Behind Lobby Bar – 550 Wellington St W)
Panel Time: 3:00pm
Michelle Shocked presents “Musical Chairs: a Survivor’s C.A.S.E. for Artists’ Rights Now!” Michelle Shocked shares a uniquely personal perspective on violations of her consent and a defense of artists’ rights.
Featuring: MAX POLLAK and NICKI DENNER
ADV TIX at TICKETWEB
An awfully authoritative-sounding internet rock guide insists that Michelle Shocked’s life must be fiction. But if it seems like an incredible road movie, a tall tale, a legend, it is no mystery. Michelle Shocked set forth on her adventure ever so young but ever so determined to jump past, jump through, jump beyond any boundary that held her back.
(Shocked received her first international exposure, in Europe, in 1986, with her debut, The Texas Campfire Tapes, a bootleg recorded around a festival campfire on a cassette recorder. She signed a contract in 1987 with (now) Universal, retaining ownership of her masters, (likely preventing them from being burned in the 2008 vault fire.) Her U.S. debut came with The Mercury Trilogy; her 1988 studio album, Short Sharp Shocked; vignettes of her early life in rural East Texas. Captain Swing, released in 1989, and Arkansas Traveler, released in 1992. She maintains all these intellectual property rights, In 1995, “Quality of Mercy” was on the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning film Dead Man Walking. In 1996, she released a studio version of an underground release, Kind Hearted Woman. In 2002, she launched her own Mighty Sound label and released Deep Natural. In 2003-04 she reissued her Mercury Trilogy. In 2005 she released a new trilogy, Threesome (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Mexican Standoff, Got No Strings) simultaneously. In 2007, a bootleg recording, ToHeavenURide, was officially released. Her most recent studio release was in 2009, Soul of My Soul. In 2013, Shocked launched her performance art ‘epic exploit’ Truth Vs Reality. As well as performing from her back catalogue, Michelle will preview her newest album, Musical Chairs (to be released in late 2019), revolutionary Cuban rhythms dedicated to the fight for artists’ rights.
Max Pollak is a virtuoso tap dancer from Austria, has been rummaging in Afro-Cuban rumba rhythms since 1996. He became known for his work in percussive dance, world music, tap dance, and choreography. He created “RumbaTap”, which merged American Rhythm Tap with Afro-Cuban music and dance. Max is the only non-Cuban member of the Afro-Cuban Rumba and folklore ensemble, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. His show, CARMEN: TO HAVANA AND BACK, is a big hit in New York.
“Tap’s Present and Future, in a Meeting of Minds, Hearts and Feet… But it was left to Max Pollak and his small Afro-Cuban group, RumbaTap, to bring everything together… virtuosic, pulsing, tricky Afro-Cuban (and sometimes Bulgarian) rhythms take over their bodies and tap shoes…essentially a full-bodied experience… On a hot day it was like a mojito, going down easy with a kick of rum.”
-The New York Times
“… the most knowledgeable jazz tap artist out there today, a very literate musician as well as dancer.”
-The Boston Herald
Pianist/composer/arranger Nicki Denner has been a part of the New York Latin and jazz music scene since 1999. She has performed around the world with artists ranging from Sheila E, tap star Savion Glover to Cuba’s percussionist Cándido and is the musical director of the all-female salsa band, Cocomama.
https://www.nickidenner.com/press.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qolrIJni51c
http://www.nickidenner.com/video.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCn1A4J0CQ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr4VigjLwbU&feature=youtu.be